Reflecting on 2022 and Mindset Shifts To Make 2023 The Best One Yet

Happy New Year Everyone!

A new year is always a great opportunity to reflect on the year gone by. Conducting a yearly reflection is a valuable exercise because –

1. We can learn from our experiences to be better for the year ahead. All our moments have lessons within them, some might be obvious and others might be much more hidden. For these hidden lessons, it’s only through a reflection where we can actively dig deep into those moments that we can find the value to bring into the new year.
2. We allow ourselves to celebrate our successes. To celebrate is a recognition and an acknowledgement of your toil and effort to make something happen. It’ll be a confidence booster for your next achievement and gives the motivation you need to keep going.
3. It provides guidance for the future. Reflecting on the past tells you what you are capable of doing if you put your mind to it when dedicating time and energy to making something happen. Knowledge of what you can achieve sets the scene for the future on what you’d like to do for the year ahead. Maybe you’d like to keep learning and growing, maybe experience something new whether it's travelling to somewhere new step outside of your comfort zone. Having this guidance through a reflection is a great starting point for planning the year ahead.

Feel free to follow along by writing or typing your answers or taking a moment to think over your answer to these questions ahead.

What were some of the highlights of 2022?

Let's acknowledge all the highlights that you achieved, all the progress, milestones and successes for you to look back fondly on. Perhaps it was something in your professional life and career, or something personal and means a lot to you. Maybe an achievement with your relationships and loved ones?

For me, 2022 was a good year. Here’s some of the highlights –

• I settled into the city of Brisbane after leaving my hometown of Sydney. Every day has felt like a dream; I’ve loved every day of being here. A new environment is a refreshing change of pace for me and has been great for my mental health.
• I changed jobs. Definitely a scary move! To leave a company I was with for 9 years to try something new was big step for me, but it was the right one. The growth in having to learn new skills and overcoming new challenges has been something I’m grateful for. It provides new opportunities and also freed up my time for my other interests too.
• I immersed myself with our learning and development community even more. We have a community called Proximity Is Power which has seen so much growth and change. Working with a tight knit group to educate others and bringing a community together to learn about something new every week was a challenging but fun aspect that brought so much joy to 2022. We even hosted in-person events in Melbourne and Sydney which was a fun project management challenge for me. There’s a saying to Find Your Tribe, meaning to find a group of people that give you a sense of belonging, and I say the PIP group was one fulfilled this for me by aligning with the same values and letting me feel supported, connected and uplifts me to be my best self.

What is a lesson you learnt that you’d like to share with others?

In 2022, I experimented with something new instead of setting a resolution or a goal - I aligned myself with values that I set from the beginning of the year. This was a revelation for me. Instead of setting new year’s resolutions, I found myself feeling much more fulfilled with living out the year aligned with the values I set. It's a liberating experience not feeling tied down to a goal. These values are –

Learning – In 2022, I decided to embrace being a lifelong learner. I found fulfilment in treating everything as a learning opportunity and to turn my spare time into moments to become better. This is a big mindset shift for me; in my high school and university days, I dreaded studying or putting my spare time towards learning as it didn’t feel fun or enjoyable. All it took was a change in perspective as well as a change in my priorities in life. Dare I say I grew up a little and matured a bit more, but to actively embrace learning has made me wiser and see improvement everyday.

Creativity – To enjoy being creative in all aspects of life. How can I make this more fun? Exciting? Fulfilling? How can I use creativity to overcome the challenges in front of me? Being a creative has unlocked the future for me, whether acknowledging that it’s always been my key strength in my corporate career and personal life, to driving my interests and area I’d like to learn more about, to being a gift that I’d like to share with others. It made my year much more interesting.

Passion – That I’d be all in on whatever I was involved in, that I’d enjoy being immersed in whatever I was doing or that I acknowledge that this just isn’t it. This was another game changer; it was this value that made me realise I wanted to see what else was out there in terms of my day job and lead me to leaving a company I was with for 9 years. This value also fuelled my other two values – It made me enjoy whatever I decided to learn and it made me more creative for the times I had to be. When I think about the past, I was living life on auto-pilot, going from one moment to another without being fully invested in what I was doing, that I was just going with the flow. To be passionate means I am steering the ship and controlling my destiny.

Who is someone that you are thankful for in 2022?

I can’t narrow it down to one person! I will shout out our entire Proximity Is Power Executive Team, we are a tight knit group and went through a lot of highs and lows throughout the year, but we got through it together.

I also owe my sister a lot. The whole reason I was able to move to Brisbane is because of her. There are people out there who look out for you and have your best interests at heart. I hope everyone has someone out there for them just like my sister is to me.

What’s the best book/podcast you read/listened to and recommend to others?

Both of mine comes from the British entrepreneur, Steven Bartlett. His book, Happy Sexy Millionaire taught me Steven’s lessons in finding success in the modern world and his podcast, The Diary of a CEO gave me insights from various interesting individuals from around the world, whether it's the business magnate, Richard Branson to Red Bull Racing's team principal - Christian Horner, to a singer like Jessie J or former UFC champion - Israel Adesanya, they all share in-depth life lessons and practical advice that no other interviewer can bring out of their guests.

Mindset Shifts for 2023

These are some of the lessons and energy I’m bringing into 2023. I hope you find inspiration in this and design your own too to make 2023 the best year yet –

• Taking Action – Earlier I suggested that having a theme or aligning the year to values was a game-changer. I took some time to think about 2023’s theme, and I’ve decided the theme is Action. There is a lot I want to achieve and I want to make it an active, fun year of living it up as much as possible. A lot involves around being active, whether it’s getting into my gym habits again and making the right food choices, to exploring the city of Brisbane and its surrounds more, as well as going overseas for the first time since the pandemic started. This year will be an inspired, active one, so Action is my theme and value for 2023.

What will your theme be? To help you decide on a theme, reflect on your values –

• What is important to you?
• What do you need to prioritise this year?
• Are there any goals that requires a certain attitude or value in order to fulfil it?

Continuing the mindset shifts –

• Journey before destination – This motto comes from Ali Abdaal, a productivity expert and is one of my favourite content creators on YouTube. I’ve procrastinated before thinking too much about the end result and not focusing on what needs to be done here and now. This mindset encourages me to be present in the moment and to enjoy it for what it is without getting too caught up on a far away end result.
• Take action on my creative curiosity - Aligning with being a lifelong learner and my theme of Action, there are a lot of new skills and hobbies I’d love to have a go at in 2023. I’d love to learn photography, how to play the guitar, take up a new martial art, learn hip hop dancing and even singing lessons. To exercise my creativity will add to the fulfilment of living life to the fullest and being open to new experiences – It’ll allow me to meet new people, become more confident by stepping outside my comfort zone, create new opportunities in life, expand my skill repertoire and most importantly.. Have more fun!
• Treat my body with respect – I haven’t been the best at looking after myself, especially leading up to the festive season where I let myself indulge a bit too much! To have an active 2023, I’ll need to be on top of my energy and treat my body with respect, to nourish it the best way possible and lead a healthier lifestyle. I have a personal goal of being 10kgs lighter which I’ll achieve with conscious food choices, physical activity everyday and sleeping on time. I can’t have an Action orientated 2023 if I’m not physically up for it!

These are some of the mindset shifts I’m taking into 2023. What will you change for the year ahead? What will you do differently? Do you have any goals to achieve?

I wish for all of us to have a successful year ahead, I can’t wait to dive in and see where it leads us.

I also wanted to take the opportunity for a bit of house keeping -

To you reading this, thank you :) I'm happy to have written 10 articles mostly consistently so far, though I'm still finding my footing on what to write about. I've set myself a goal of continuing this newsletter weekly where I aim to continue writing about this interest of mine in creativity, productivity and the books I read, plus anything that's relevant in the current moment that's given me value. Essentially I want to keep writing to give value onto everyone else, just as other people's content has done for me.

Writing is also a expression of creativity and it's a skill I'd love to improve in 2023. I signed up for a writing cohort called Ship 30 for 30 which will hopefully teach me new ways to generate ideas and produce content, which all in turn will improve my writing.

If you enjoyed this read, consider subscribing to The Creative Catalyst Newsletter to avoid missing out on future articles. I also invite you to join the Proximity Is Power group, which is a tight-knit community get-together every Wednesday night where we discuss various topics to learn and grow together, and is a great way to meet new people and expand your network!

Feel free to get in contact with me too! Happy to connect and hear about your creative ventures.

Stay creative, always.